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US Sport Climbing Nationals draws crowd in Boulder

1,000 people gather to watch 20 compete for top roped climber

By Sarah Kuta For the Camera

Posted:
04/06/2013 10:46:31 PM MDT

Updated:
04/07/2013 08:09:22 AM MDT

In typical Boulder fashion, a large crowd of about 1,000 people gathered at Movement Climbing and Fitness Gym on Saturday night to watch as 20 climbers, 11 females and nine males, battled to be the nation's top roped climber.

Movement co-owner Anne-Worley Moelter said the nearly 1,000 spectators who turned out for Sport Climbing Series Open Nationals was a testament to the sport's growth in popularity, and to the active climbing community in Boulder.

"This is probably going to be the biggest adult nationals that the U.S. has seen in terms of spectators," Moelter said. "The routes look amazing. I know the setters have put a ton of time into this."

On the women's side, French climber Charlotte Durif, Delaney Miller of Frisco, Texas, and Boulder's Chelsea Rude took the top three spots. Boulder's Daniel Woods took first, followed by Carlo Traversi of Santa Rosa, Calif., and Noah Ridge of Minneapolis for the men.

Durif, a member of the French national team, was the only climber for both men and women to reach the final hold on the route. She's in the United States for a five-month internship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"Just before holding the last hold, it was really hard and I was in a bad situation, but I told myself 'OK, you can do it. Trust it and crush it,'" Durif said.

Spotlights lit the walls and techno beats pumped in the background as USA Climbing Director of Operations Kynan Waggoner introduced the climbers to the crowd.

In its third year at Movement Climbing and Fitness Gym, the buzz around sport climbing nationals has grown each year, Waggoner said.

"There's a lot of drama going into this round," Waggoner said. "That's the whole point, to carry that level of drama into the finals round."

Chelsea Rude makes her way to the top of the wall during the 2013 Sport and Speed Open Nationals at Movement Climbing + Fitness in Boulder on Saturday evening April 6th, 2013. (Jonathan Castner)
(
Jonathan Castner
)

A five-way tie after the men's qualifiers heightened that drama on Saturday night. Carlo Traversi, Jon Cardwell, Noah Ridge, Robert D'Anastasio and Vasya Vorotnikov were tied for first place with only one chance on the wall to win.

Spectators packed the bleachers and sat on the floor of the gym craning their necks to get a good look as one by one the athletes climbed up the gym's west wall.

Each hold the climbers reached higher on the route was met with raucous applause and encouragement from the audience. At one point, Tiffany Hensley, who climbs for Boulder's The Spot and finished fifth, turned completely upside down while high on the wall, drawing hoots and yells from the crowd.

"It's something I do a lot," Hensley said. "I get a toe hook and I feel very comfortable because I'm not on my arms, I can rest, and there's no fear because you don't have to think about it, you're just in the moment."

One spectator, Mike Caldwell of Estes Park, drove down to "support the locals," he said.

Caldwell said the number of supporters who turned out to watch the nation's best roped climbers was "astronomical."

"To think there are five or six climbing gyms within three blocks of here and all of them are making money, it's just astounding," Caldwell said.

Though Caldwell knows climbing competitions well as the father of pro climber Tommy Caldwell, he added that the atmosphere would be entertaining for anyone, climbing enthusiast or not.

"With the staging and the music and just the way they do it, they really put on a good show," he said. "The athleticism of the climbers is just off the scale."

Elan Jonas Mcrae makes his way to the top of the wall during the 2013 Sport and Speed Open Nationals at Movement Climbing Fitness in Boulder on Saturday evening April 6th, 2013. (Jonathan Castner)
(Jonathan Castner)

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